Triple H Reveals What It Was Really Like Working Under Vince McMahon’s Rule

Triple H is running WWE creative now—but he still remembers exactly what it was like working under Vince McMahon’s iron fist.

During a revealing appearance on the High Performance podcast, WWE’s Chief Content Officer opened up about what it was like to sit under McMahon’s learning tree for nearly three decades. From working with DX to building NXT and now running the show with Vince gone, Triple H didn’t sugarcoat the differences between their styles.

“When you learn, especially from mentors, you learn what to do and what not to do,” Triple H said. “There were things that bothered me about the way he did things. Certain things with his personality, he would run things totally different than I would.”

One major difference? Vince McMahon’s obsession with control. “He was much more controlling, especially as he got older,” Triple H admitted. “When we started DX, we were just doing our own thing. Nobody was scripting anything. Most times we were coming back and he was mad at us and screaming at us, ‘We’re gonna get thrown off the air, goddamnit, don’t do that again.’ We were just like, ‘Whatever,’ and we’d go do it again the following week.”

But that freedom didn’t last. “Then there was a point where that started to work and we started to really get over… Now, all of a sudden, we show up to TV one week and they hand us a script. ‘What is this?’ ‘It’s what Vince wants you to say tonight.’ I was much newer. Shawn [Michaels] was Shawn at the time.”

What happened next was pure chaos. “We had the argument with him and he said, ‘That’s what I want you guys to do. Just go do it.’ Shawn crumpled up the piece of paper and said, ‘I ain’t saying any of this sht.’ Threw it at Vince and we walked out of the office. I was like, ‘Wow, we’re getting fired.’”*

Triple H added that even legends like Pat Patterson would push back against McMahon’s micromanaging. “Pat would come to me like, ‘Vince wants to do this thing and it’s so stupid. Let’s do this instead.’ I’d tell him, ‘Pat, I talked to him until I was blue in the face. You go talk to him.’”

Triple H ultimately took over WWE creative in June 2022, following McMahon’s first retirement amidst hush money allegations. Vince would briefly return before stepping down again in January 2024 following a lawsuit filed by Janel Grant. Since then, Triple H has been running things—and making it clear he’s doing it his own way.